Philadelphia. Day 3. Sunday. Who Goes From a Pony Country to a Non-Pony Country?
Another great night’s sleep (minus your normal bout of pregnancy insomnia and multiple trips to pee), another pleasant morning wake up.
We got up around 8:30 and got out pretty quickly. It’s amazing how quick you can get out the door when you don’t need to get a toddler ready. It was another beautiful day so we didn’t even bring coats for us. Thanks global warming!
We walked about ten minutes to our first stop of the day for breakfast at K’far, an all-day Israeli cafe from Chef Michael Solomonov (who is famous for his cookbook Zahav, and restaurant of the same name, which Tzvi has always wanted to eat at, but unfortunately we won’t be dining there on this trip as we planned too late and it was totally booked). We ordered breakfast and took seats at the bar; not because there weren’t tables, just because the bar was nice. We both got lattes, but Tzvi’s was a yemenite latte with cinnamon and cardamom, which he enjoyed but said was a little too sweet. We also shared a potato boreka, chocolate rugelach and chocolate babka. I had an avocado kubaneh toast which was delicious, due mostly to the fact that they slather the bottom of the bread in butter and salt and then toast it on a griddle. Tzvi had a zahtar Jerusalem bagel with eggs and cheese, which reminded me of being back in the old city.
After breakfast we Ubered to the historic center of the city to the Jewish museum where we had 10 AM tickets for the last day of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg exhibit, titled “Notorious RBG.” Unfortunately they didn’t let us take photos inside the exhibit. The exhibit was very well done and went through RBG’s whole life (so far) and had features on each of her biggest cases that she litigated and presided over. It’s the first museum exhibit about her, which made me wonder, is it weird to have an exhibit on her before she’s dead? After the exhibit we quickly went through the rest of the museum as we weren’t in the mood to read through three floors of Jewish history. We did spend some time in the last room though. I don’t know what the point of the room was, but they were playing clips of Seinfeld, SNL and Fiddler on the Roof.
After the museum we walked several blocks to Shane Confectionary, the oldest continuously operated candy store in America. It was very cute and we bought a few things. They have an ice cream store right down the block, but we were just too full. After that we took an Uber to Rittenhouse Square where we walked around and shopped a bit, and then got lunch at a bagel shop called Spread Bagelry. I don’t get why people rave about Montreal style bagels. They’re just not as good as regular bagels (sorry, Jessica).
After lunch we Ubered back to the hotel, changed into bathing suits, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. It was much quieter than the previous day. I think a lot of people must come for the weekend, but then go home so they can go to work and school on Monday. We read and swam and I even took a little nap. It was glorious.
Eventually we went upstairs and got ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was at a vegan restuatant called Vedge. The restaurant is in the gay neighborhood of Philly, which is actually called the Gayborhood. The restaurant is located inside two historic townhouses, and you really feel like you’re eating in an old house. The place has been around for a while and from everything we read online, is regarded as not just the best vegan restaurant in Philly, but one of the best restaurants in the city. I have to say, from my limited Philly dining experience, I agree. Everything was amazing. It was one of the few times where I looked at a menu and actually wanted to order everything (except the eggplant and mushrooms). We started by getting mocktails/cocktails, and then they brought an amuse bouche of cauliflower-mustard soup.
Here are the descriptions of the rest of the dishes we ordered (taken from their menu):
STUFFED AVOCADO: romesco, pickled cauliflower, “fried rice,” black salt
RUTABAGA FONDUE: today’s soft pretzel, yesterday’s pickle, charred onion
SMOKED POTATO CREPE: buckwheat, turnip béchamel, horseradish
GRILLED BROCCOLINI: charred onion dashi, cipollini, tofu tamago
WOOD ROASTED CARROT: pumpernickel, crushed garbanzos, carrot mustard, carrot kraut
SSAMJANG TOFU: edamame puree, burnt miso, cucumber, sea beans, toasted nori
Everything was so good. Tzvi said the most interesting thing was the carrot, which kind of tasted like deli. Tzvi also thought the garbanzo puree on pumpernickel toast tasted exactly like whitefish on a bagel (I think he’s wrong). I actually didn’t LOVE that dish. But everything else was phenomenal. We don’t know how they do it. And every dish wasn’t just delicious, it was stunning.
Service was also really great. Every time they brought out another dish the waiter told us what it was and then said “no peanuts or hazelnuts.” Tzvi liked that. Very reassuring.
Unfortunately I have to say the only weak part of the meal was dessert. There wasn’t really much on the menu that wowed us. We ordered the sticky toffee pudding, which was the only thing that really interested us. I will say that it was fantastic, especially considering there was no dairy. It came with a cardamom ice cream, and halfway through eating it Tzvi stopped and said, “Oh, wow, and there’s no dairy in this.” So yeah, it was so good we forgot it wasn’t dairy. (Apparently a lot of stuff, including their ice cream, uses a blend of both soy milk and almond milk, though I don’t know what benefit you get from using both (Sarah, you can let us know).)
After that we called an Uber and went back to the hotel. We were stuffed and exhausted but we took a bath because we couldn’t let that go to waste. Then we got into bed to watch TV, except Tzvi quickly passed out watching the Wedding Singer. I then spoke to my mom for an hour getting the day’s news.
Great day.